@auspice have you ever been looked at seriously by doctor familiar with Lyme and it's common co-infections?

I say familiar with Lyme because a lot of docs use the CDC guidelines with are plain wrong and they're just starting to work on changing them

Funny you should say that.
I've had a friend say in the past I should be checked for late-stage (or whatever it's called) Lyme.

When I was... 8 or 9? I had a deer tick in my arm for 3+ days. Why that long you say? Because I've always been that person that just toughs it out as long as possible and it was on the back side of my upper arm (where I couldn't see). My arm ached. Whatever. And then it kept hurting. And kept hurting. And when I finally told my mom, the thing was halfway into my arm. >.>

So, it IS possible. But yeah, last round of the above 'see a bunch of specialists,' it got waved off because 'oh if that was the issue they'd have caught it all when you were a kid.'

Because they totally knew this all in the 90s y'all.

So no, I haven't, because I mean, a) is there a list of those doctors? b) I'm just sort of tired of being brushed off. :\

It's not just pain. Anyone who has had a chronic health issue go undiagnosed knows. It's pain, it's weariness, it's time, it's money, it's the frustration of having doctors look at you like you're just trying to get pills (or outright saying as much), it's doctors saying 'it's probably all in your head,' etc.

I think I should probably take this whole 'be checked for lyme' thing seriously.

I've done more reading on it and there's a lot of 'gets mistaken for...' and 'has symptoms in common with...' fibromyalgia. So there's that.

There's also a whole big: 'there's a very high risk if you were never actually treated for lyme.'

And I wasn't when I got bitten by the tick. Or well, accurately: had it buried in my arm for 3+ days. When I got sick, my dad did his handwave 'it's normal, it's like having the flu, she'll get better eventually.' So I was never given the run of antibiotics.

I mean, it's not like the whole 'there's no cure' doesn't phase me. There isn't one for fibro, either, but lyme at least has treatment programs. Fibro's is 'exercise works for some people' (every time I've thrown myself into an exercise program, I've gotten immensely worse), 'NSAIDs work for some people' (I'm largely immune to them all), etc.

Mind a lot of lyme's is bouts of antibiotics but. I do wonder if this is why every time I'm given even short runs of antibiotics, I feel fucking amazing for a few days. Like I can have people going 'no, Auspice, you should still be resting, you're still sick' and I'm all 'I WANT TO DO EVERYTHING I FEEL AWESOME THIS IS GREAT' I always assumed that was just a standard side effect of antibiotics and everyone got that way.

So. Either way. It's something to look into at least. I mean. The symptom list (physical and mental) of late stage / post / whatever term you use of lyme is... p much exactly everything I deal with. From fatigue to muscle problems to my legs to my depression and anxiety. If it is what's going on and I can find a treatment program? It'd be worth trying.

Once I've got money to spare to afford rides to/from the specialist and the specialist co-pay, I'mma do it.

If that's your reaction to antibiotics, definitely do it. Usually, antibiotics make everyone I know exhausted as fuck and feels crappy and breaks out like a teenager while their body fights off whatever they're given the antibiotics for. (Thankfully, I never got the 'bonus' yeast infection, but that's super common, too.)

If that's your reaction to antibiotics, definitely do it. Usually, antibiotics make everyone I know exhausted as fuck and feels crappy and breaks out like a teenager while their body fights off whatever they're given the antibiotics for. (Thankfully, I never got the 'bonus' yeast infection, but that's super common, too.)

See? I thought it was normal! Antibiotics make me feel like I can do ALL THE THINGS.

Whenever I'm sick and go to the doctor, it's like 'please gimme antibiotics please please oh man the z-pack would be super awesome I'll be so productive this week my house will be spotless and I'll get caught up on everything and...'

I never have to be told 'make sure to finish them all' because I WANT to finish the whole pack. I am sad when they are gone because it means a return to feeling blah.

So like, I'm officially diagnosed as being bipolar. Incidentally, apparently there's a lot of coincidental symptoms that can make people think you're autistic when you have some of the most severe symptoms of being bipolar. For example, I don't just have regular mania, I have hypermania.

Anyway, I'm on this Latuda shit. I feel better. My emotions are more balanced out even though I still have regular negative emotions due to life circumstances, but I can manage.

If you (general you) have symptoms of hypothyroidism and adrenal fatigue (prolonged exposure to high levels of stress), it might be worth it to check out ashwagandha supplements. It's an adaptogen that helps regulate cortisol (stress hormone) levels in the body, and has a score of other positive effects. It has helped me regain energy and strengthened my stress response. (As with anything health related on the internet, please exercise caution and consult your doctor first.) It's seriously made a significant change for me, to the extent that I feel like a new person.

Welcome to the club. I have bipolar 2 - tends towards hypomania, and depression. Drugs are amazing! :) Also get some therapy, it makes all the difference. Also exercise, diet, and teach people around you to recognise and call you on the symptoms.

Some people know that I have a medically fragile niece. Last week, after a lingering cold, she was admitted to the hospital because she was having issues keeping her O2 saturation levels up. It turns out the cold had turned into pneumonia.
So .. yeah, she'll be in the hospital for a bit more now, and when she comes home again, it'll be back on oxygen.

So I'm making some changes to my diet so I can include more home-prepared food in my work lunches, and the logistics are getting in my way. Namely on multiple days a week I'd have to leave the food in the car for 1-1.5 hours - in the summer, even - while I'm elsewhere.

Does anyone have any experience with lunch boxes or storing food under similar conditions? I'm not sure just how 'insulated' those bags Amazon sells are, but I'm not crazy about the prospect of carrying icepacks back and forth either.

Basically I need to figure out the logistics of taking food to work. Any thoughts?

@arkandel Is a mini cooler an option? I can't think of any non-cooler method of keeping food in a car during summer for more than an hour that doesn't result in horrible outcomes, but if you could get a small cooler, you could put some ice packs in there, and the lunchbox between the icepacks.